Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran, says Palestinian militant group

CAIRO — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said on July 31, describing the strike as a "severe escalation" that would not achieve its goals.

The militant faction, via in a statement, mourned the death of Haniyeh, who it said was killed in "a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh was killed in Tehran along with one of his bodyguards.

The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on July 30.

The assassination is a "cowardly act that will not go unpunished", Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV cited senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.

"This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.

He said Hamas would continue the path it was following, adding: "We are confident of victory."

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, has been the face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7 has raged in Gaza, where three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Appointed to the Hamas top job in 2017, Haniyeh moved between Turkey and Qatar's capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Hamas' ally Iran.

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